Trading in butter?

You just never really know when you are going to find something unexpected. I've known for a long time that early medieval Ireland had a heavily cattle based economy, really a dairy based economy. Most of this product would be used for local consumption,  as a primary source of both calories and protein. During my...

Ireland’s First Easter Vigil

This is one of my favorite posts from the Heavenfield archive: From Muirchu's Life of Patrick: "And on the very night that St Patrick was celebrating the Passover, they were partaking of the worship of their great pagan festival. Now there was a custom among the pagans -- made clear to all by edict --...

The Death of King Diarmait

I've been browsing through the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland for you know what, plague, and I came across an interesting entry. 665 Kl. The death by plague of the son of Áed Sláine, i.e. Blathmac [...], i.e. in Calatruim. Diarmait died in the same place, standing, stretched against a cross, watching the Laigin army approaching...

Cattle Plagues in the Annals of Ulster, 699-708

From the archives a couple years ago: I've been looking at the Irish annals for references to plagues and I came across a couple of references to cattle plagues. Now these plagues are probably not the same disease causing human deaths in the annals. There is a species barrier for most diseases, but not all....

The Mortality of Children, Ireland 683-685

683 The beginning of the children's plague in the month of October (AT, AU, AI), which lasted for three years in Ireland. (FAI); A plague was in Ireland (AC) 684: The plague of youths, in which all the chieftains and nearly all the young Irish noblemen perished. (FAI); The mortality of little ones (AT) / children...

Lady Æthelflaed’s Defense of Chester, c.907

I was reading through the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland and I found a very interesting story. It details Lady Æthelflaed's defense of Mercia from the Vikings in c. 907. I'm just going to quote it in full and let it speak for itself. Now the Norwegians left Ireland, as we said, and their leader was...